Hello Rebecca! welcome to the PCOS board!

Greetings!

Hi Rebecca, from another Rebecca. I am new here too (but not to MFP).

All of you that are new feel free to add me I'm a half decent resource, my best advice however is look through the posts in this group tons of great information! Pay attention to Dragonwolf's posts, she's the most helpful information around!

Good luck ladies, you can do this!

Hi I'm Mali, I have been diagnosed for 4/5 years now but until recently wasn't doing anything to manage it. I have lost 45 pounds on my own but things have slowed and I'm looking to actually take charge of my body and treat without having to see a Dr. I live in Alaska and its basically non existent to have a Dr. here who knows how to treat without medication.

A_Dabauer wrote: »

Congratulations on the success so far!

I'd personally start with inositol powder. If you look through other recently topics Dragonwolf explains very nicely it's benefits. I live in Canada and buy mine online it's affordable (about 50 dollars for a two month supply.)

Depending on you other symptoms/concerns would depend on what else you might want to add as an additional supplement.

How did you lose your weight so far? Have you been using low carb? For most of us that's the only way to lose weight. If you've not tried low carb I'd suggest watching your carb macro, then gradually reduce it until your weightloss starts again. Everyone's carb tolerance is different but most of us need to stay between 50 to 100 grams of carbs per day.

Good luck!

Glad you found that little write-up helpful.

I don't know if it's the same one you get, but I use this brand of Inositol. I just checked it on amazon.ca and it's $48CAD, but I know a couple people in the US paying $50USD for a pound/half kilo, and that's just insane when it can be found for about half that price. (Figured I'd mention it, since I had someone come to me and ask, because she had been getting one that was that expensive.)

Also, some people have found that going below 50g carbs helps, too. So if you're getting only limited results from 50-100g carbs, it may be useful to consider dropping down under 50g, and see if that helps. I wrote up a few things on macro suggestions in several past posts (and one of these days, I'll put them into a post on my blog) which you can seek out for full details, but if you drop carbs, make sure to increase fats. Protein is not fuel, and low carb, low fat, high protein is a recipe for disaster.

I'm also new to MFP, looking for support for my PCOS struggle. I am on a high protein/low carb diet in combination with Metformin and Phentermine. I work out everyday starting 1/3/2014. Anyone feel free to add me.

Dragonwolf wrote: »

A_Dabauer wrote: »

Congratulations on the success so far!

I'd personally start with inositol powder. If you look through other recently topics Dragonwolf explains very nicely it's benefits. I live in Canada and buy mine online it's affordable (about 50 dollars for a two month supply.)

Depending on you other symptoms/concerns would depend on what else you might want to add as an additional supplement.

How did you lose your weight so far? Have you been using low carb? For most of us that's the only way to lose weight. If you've not tried low carb I'd suggest watching your carb macro, then gradually reduce it until your weightloss starts again. Everyone's carb tolerance is different but most of us need to stay between 50 to 100 grams of carbs per day.

Good luck!

Glad you found that little write-up helpful.

I don't know if it's the same one you get, but I use this brand of Inositol. I just checked it on amazon.ca and it's $48CAD, but I know a couple people in the US paying $50USD for a pound/half kilo, and that's just insane when it can be found for about half that price. (Figured I'd mention it, since I had someone come to me and ask, because she had been getting one that was that expensive.)

Also, some people have found that going below 50g carbs helps, too. So if you're getting only limited results from 50-100g carbs, it may be useful to consider dropping down under 50g, and see if that helps. I wrote up a few things on macro suggestions in several past posts (and one of these days, I'll put them into a post on my blog) which you can seek out for full details, but if you drop carbs, make sure to increase fats. Protein is not fuel, and low carb, low fat, high protein is a recipe for disaster.

So you prefer the powdered inositol as opposed to the pills? Also, how much do you take?

bdawso88 wrote: »

Dragonwolf wrote: »

A_Dabauer wrote: »

Congratulations on the success so far!

I'd personally start with inositol powder. If you look through other recently topics Dragonwolf explains very nicely it's benefits. I live in Canada and buy mine online it's affordable (about 50 dollars for a two month supply.)

Depending on you other symptoms/concerns would depend on what else you might want to add as an additional supplement.

How did you lose your weight so far? Have you been using low carb? For most of us that's the only way to lose weight. If you've not tried low carb I'd suggest watching your carb macro, then gradually reduce it until your weightloss starts again. Everyone's carb tolerance is different but most of us need to stay between 50 to 100 grams of carbs per day.

Good luck!

Glad you found that little write-up helpful.

I don't know if it's the same one you get, but I use this brand of Inositol. I just checked it on amazon.ca and it's $48CAD, but I know a couple people in the US paying $50USD for a pound/half kilo, and that's just insane when it can be found for about half that price. (Figured I'd mention it, since I had someone come to me and ask, because she had been getting one that was that expensive.)

Also, some people have found that going below 50g carbs helps, too. So if you're getting only limited results from 50-100g carbs, it may be useful to consider dropping down under 50g, and see if that helps. I wrote up a few things on macro suggestions in several past posts (and one of these days, I'll put them into a post on my blog) which you can seek out for full details, but if you drop carbs, make sure to increase fats. Protein is not fuel, and low carb, low fat, high protein is a recipe for disaster.

So you prefer the powdered inositol as opposed to the pills? Also, how much do you take?

Dragonwolf is the expert, but from my understanding the pills are at a much higher dosage, and are used at that strength for anxiety disorders.

I'm not sure the impact of taking the pills would be for someone with pcos.

As for dosage, my ND started me a 8 grams (about a tablespoon) a day and now I'm taking 12 grams.

A_Dabauer wrote: »

bdawso88 wrote: »

Dragonwolf wrote: »

A_Dabauer wrote: »

Congratulations on the success so far!

I'd personally start with inositol powder. If you look through other recently topics Dragonwolf explains very nicely it's benefits. I live in Canada and buy mine online it's affordable (about 50 dollars for a two month supply.)

Depending on you other symptoms/concerns would depend on what else you might want to add as an additional supplement.

How did you lose your weight so far? Have you been using low carb? For most of us that's the only way to lose weight. If you've not tried low carb I'd suggest watching your carb macro, then gradually reduce it until your weightloss starts again. Everyone's carb tolerance is different but most of us need to stay between 50 to 100 grams of carbs per day.

Good luck!

Glad you found that little write-up helpful.

I don't know if it's the same one you get, but I use this brand of Inositol. I just checked it on amazon.ca and it's $48CAD, but I know a couple people in the US paying $50USD for a pound/half kilo, and that's just insane when it can be found for about half that price. (Figured I'd mention it, since I had someone come to me and ask, because she had been getting one that was that expensive.)

Also, some people have found that going below 50g carbs helps, too. So if you're getting only limited results from 50-100g carbs, it may be useful to consider dropping down under 50g, and see if that helps. I wrote up a few things on macro suggestions in several past posts (and one of these days, I'll put them into a post on my blog) which you can seek out for full details, but if you drop carbs, make sure to increase fats. Protein is not fuel, and low carb, low fat, high protein is a recipe for disaster.

So you prefer the powdered inositol as opposed to the pills? Also, how much do you take?

Dragonwolf is the expert, but from my understanding the pills are at a much higher dosage, and are used at that strength for anxiety disorders.

I'm not sure the impact of taking the pills would be for someone with pcos.

As for dosage, my ND started me a 8 grams (about a tablespoon) a day and now I'm taking 12 grams.

Actually, I found the opposite -- the pills I've found are a much lower dosage than what I use (they generally average 500mg). Like Alliwan said, though, the powder makes it easier to tweak the dosage. It also allows my family to buy one package, since my husband, son, and I all take it, and while hubby and I are on the same dose now, our son gets far less.

I take 12 grams, since I also use it for anxiety/depression (works out to about 4 teaspoons). So yeah, if I were to do the pills, I'd have to take it by the handful! The studies that I found while researching it used 4 grams for PCOS treatment, though I know of some women who have found it beneficial as low as something like 250mg, especially when they combine myo and d-chiro inositol. The lower doses haven't really been studied, but the researchers acknowledge that lower doses may still be effective for at least some women.

As for the efficacy of powdered vs pill -- to my knowledge, at least some of the studies used pill form (the ones that blended myo and d-chiro, I believe used pills not unlike Pregnitude), and I don't think the form matters much.

For taking it, I just mix it in water and chug it down. It dissolves fairly easily, but seems to saturate the water pretty quickly, so I end up with a suspension of about half of it. It's sweet and not unpleasant tasting, so it's not a big deal to do it that way. The powder I get, at least, is too fine to try to take it without hydrating it, first.